

| Wreck of the S.S. "WALDENSIAN" en route to Cape Town, Cape of Good Hope, NATAL postal history 1862 cover to Josh Smith, Risebro, Kirbymoorside, Yorkshire with QV Chalon 6d grey (SG.13) packet rate pmk'd in the first few days of October 1862, showing PAID/DEVONPORT/CAPE PACKET/28 NO 62 overstruck red London NO 29 62 and red crayon "4" credited to the UK (compared to 5d in the Cape Colony), reverse shows trace of a backstamp but detail lost with missing flap. The saved mail was taken by Union steamer "Athens" which left Cape Town on 21st October arriving Devonport 28th November 1862. The Rennie steamer "Waldensian" sailed from Durban bound Cape Town on 6th October 1862 but struck rock at Struy's Point Reef, near Cape Agulhas, at 11pm on Monday the 13th. Captain Joss, having sight of the land and knowing the area, sent the second officer with a boat to look for a landing place. After a beach was secured two boats took out the female passengers, followed by the carpenter, the boatswain, and the elderly men. A fire was lit on shore and by daylight, after several trips, all 100 souls, and the mailbags had been saved. The mailbags and most of the passengers were conveyed overland from Somerset West reaching Cape Town on Thursday, others rescued by the "Kadie" or "Albatross". The "Waldensian" broke in half about 11.30am on the 14th, and, with the cargo became the perfect wreck. Losses included costumes and instruments of the Christy Minstrels, and four years observations on the trigonometrical survey of the colony with passenger Captain Bailey. £1500 | |